Mehria Mansury missing since Sept. 24

5:13 PM, Oct 3, 2013

7:18 PM, Oct 4, 2013

A 42-year-old Serra Mesa woman was in custody without bail Friday on suspicion of murdering her 79-year-old mother and ditching the body on the Barona Indian Reservation, and possible accomplices may be arrested in the future, police said.

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Victim Mehria Mansury in a family photo.

Mansury family

G. Creighton / 10News

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SAN DIEGO - A 42-year-old Serra Mesa woman was in custody without bail Friday on suspicion of murdering her 79-year-old mother and ditching the body on the Barona Indian Reservation, and possible accomplices may be arrested in the future, police said.

Ghazal "Gazelle" Ybarra Mansury was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder into the Las Colinas Detention Center in Santee at 9:36 p.m. Thursday, according to San Diego County sheriff's online jail records. Homicide detectives planned to meet with the District Attorney's Office on Monday to recommend she be charged, SDPD Lt. Jorge Duran said in a news conference Friday morning.

"Early on, information from family indicated that they suspected foul play," Duran said, noting that extended family members directed detectives to look at the victim's daughter, who has a criminal past related to theft.

"We considered her a person of interest from the onset," he said.

Within hours of a body being found underneath a tree on the Barona Indian Reservation near Ramona, the suspect was seen Wednesday evening being escorted by police from the Amulet Street home she shares with her mother. She told reporters at the scene she was not under arrest as she walked unrestrained to a waiting unmarked vehicle.

She was later released, then arrested late Thursday afternoon as she and her 57-year-old boyfriend exited a friend's house in City Heights. SDPD homicide Lt. Jorge Duran said the suspect's boyfriend was questioned at police headquarters but not arrested. He remained, however, a "person of interest" in the case, according to the lieutenant.

A third person identified as a visitor to the Mansury home was taken into custody at the residence on Thursday in connection with an unrelated arrest warrant. Citing the ongoing investigation, Duran said the person was female but declined to identify her further or say what the arrest warrant was for.

"There may be further suspects that may be arrested at some point," Duran said without elaboration.

An autopsy performed Thursday determined that the body found on Barona was that of Mansury's missing mother, Mehria Mansury. The condition of the body made it impossible to identify her on sight, Duran said, noting she was positively identified through fingerprints. San Diego police late Thursday officially reclassified their missing person case as a homicide.

The body was found in the vicinity of San Vicente Oaks Road and Wildcat Canyon Road about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday by a sheriff's search-and-rescue team, according to the Sheriff's Department. Duran said the body was found face down and bore signs of animal activity.

"The case was initially investigated by the Adult Missing Person's Unit," Duran said. "During the course of the investigation, several area searches were conducted and numerous leads were pursued. Recent developments have led investigators to classify the case as a homicide."

Extended family members reported the victim missing on Sept. 25, saying they had not heard from her since about 5 p.m. Sept. 23, Duran said in a statement.

The motive was unclear. Ghazal Mansury has a criminal past for theft.

Neighbor Denise Lattizzory told 10News she was at a loss for words watching the police activity inside her neighbor's home.

"I was really hoping that they would find the mother and she'd be OK," she told 10News from across the street from Mansury's home. "It's really a sad thing. You know, it's like anybody else, one of your neighbors, you don't want anything like this to be in their life."

On Thursday, after news of Gazelle Mansury's arrest, Mehria Mansoury's great nephew, Andre Katawazi, told 10News, "It will bring a sense of closure so we know she can be laid to rest with her husband, other loved ones, her brother; and all this can be done."

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. City News Service contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.